The search operation continues to expose and suppress additional episodes of illegal activities of the suspects

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MOSCOW, February 28 (Itar-Tass) – The police suspect incumbent and former officials of the Russian savings bank Sberbank of stealing more than 50 million roubles from the salary cards of their clients, the Russian Interior Ministry told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

“The officers from the main department of economic security and counteraction to corruption of the Russian Interior Ministry and the Russian police department in the Volga Federal District jointly with the Sberbank security service busted an organized criminal group, which is suspected of stealing big sums of money from the salary cards of the bank clients. The detectives found that the organized criminal group included former and incumbent officials of the Sberbank offices, as well as the chief executives from several commercial organizations, which were involved in the criminal scheme,” the Interior Ministry said.

The Interior Ministry reported that misusing their ties in financial lending organizations, the suspects have got the information about the holders of the banking cards, the fact of money and a sum of money on the accounts, as well as the passport information, after that they processed their banking cards on their names through producing the false information about their workplace. In the future, on false letters of attorney, the swindlers acquired the access to the monetary funds on the salary cards.

“At the next stage through the electronic system Sberbank-online and remote servicing channels with the use of one-time access codes, the monetary funds from the accounts, which the clients already have, were transferred to the participants of the organized criminal group on the accounts of the banking cards and were cashed later. Preliminary damages inflicted to Sberbank exceeded 50 million roubles,” the ministry said.

The criminal case was opened under Article 159 Part 3 of the Criminal Code for fraud.

“Three active members of the organized criminal group were detained in the search operation. The mastermind of the criminal scheme is a resident of Nizhny Novgorod with previous convictions. He is also suspected of illegal cashing for the commercial organizations, which were acting in the Volga and Central Federal Districts,” the ministry said.

In the searches at the places of residence and stay of the suspects, as well as at rented offices over 100 forged banking cards, over 30 stamps of different juridical entities, the documents of financial and economic activities of several commercial structures, over 20 mobile phones, the video recording equipment, computers, which are important for the criminal case, were confiscated.

The search operation continues to expose and suppress additional episodes of illegal activities of the suspects, as well as detect the whereabouts of all participants in the illegal scheme.